Kissenger exhibition at SCIENCE GALLERY DUBLIN Intimacy special exhibition @adriancheok

How to Lose Weight Fast: Strategies for Rapid Results

Losing weight quickly is a common desire for many individuals seeking to shed extra pounds and improve their overall health. However, the quest for rapid weight loss often comes with its own set of challenges and considerations. In this article, we’ll explore effective strategies to achieve rapid weight loss safely and sustainably.

1. Introduction
The desire to lose weight rapidly often stems from a sense of urgency or a specific event on the horizon. Whether it’s a wedding, vacation, or simply a desire to feel more confident, many people seek quick solutions to slim down.

2. Understanding Rapid Weight Loss
Before diving into strategies, it’s crucial to understand what rapid weight loss entails and whether it’s safe. While shedding a significant amount of weight in a short period may seem appealing, it’s important to prioritize health and well-being over quick fixes.

3. Setting Realistic Goals
While rapid weight loss is possible, setting realistic goals is essential. Aim for a target that is achievable within the desired timeframe, taking into account factors such as your current weight, metabolism, and lifestyle.

4. The Importance of Diet
Diet plays a central role in any weight loss journey, especially when aiming for rapid results. Focus on consuming whole, nutrient-dense foods while minimizing processed and high-calorie items. Incorporate plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains into your meals.

5. Incorporating Exercise
In addition to diet, regular exercise is crucial for burning calories and accelerating weight loss. Aim for a combination of cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility exercises to maximize results.

6. Hydration
Staying hydrated is often overlooked but is essential for supporting weight loss efforts. Drinking an adequate amount of water helps boost metabolism, curb cravings, and flush out toxins from the body.

7. The Significance of Sleep
Getting enough quality sleep is vital for overall health and can significantly impact weight loss. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep per night to support your body’s natural processes and optimize energy levels.

8. Managing Stress
Chronic stress can sabotage weight loss efforts by triggering emotional eating and disrupting hormone levels. Incorporate stress-reducing activities such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises into your daily routine to promote relaxation and overall well-being.

9. Avoiding Crash Diets
While crash diets may promise rapid results, they often lead to unsustainable weight loss and can have adverse effects on your health. Instead of following extreme or restrictive eating plans, focus on making gradual, sustainable changes to your diet and lifestyle.

10. Seeking Professional Guidance
If you’re unsure where to start or have specific health concerns, seeking guidance from a nutritionist or healthcare professional can provide valuable support and personalized recommendations tailored to your needs.

11. Tracking Progress
Keeping track of your progress is essential for staying motivated and adjusting your approach as needed. Consider keeping a food journal, tracking workouts, or using apps to monitor your daily habits and progress towards your goals.

12. Overcoming Setbacks
Weight loss journeys are rarely linear, and setbacks are inevitable. Instead of becoming discouraged, view setbacks as learning opportunities and a chance to reassess your approach. Stay focused on your long-term goals and celebrate small victories along the way.

13. Long-Term Sustainability
While rapid weight loss may provide immediate results, the ultimate goal is long-term sustainability. Focus on adopting healthy habits that you can maintain over time, rather than relying on short-term fixes.

14. Celebrating Achievements
Don’t forget to celebrate your achievements and milestones along the way. Whether it’s fitting into a smaller size jeans or reaching a fitness milestone, acknowledging your progress can help keep you motivated and focused on your goals.

15. Conclusion
In conclusion, losing weight quickly requires a combination of strategic planning, dedication, and patience. By following these tips and staying committed to your goals, you can achieve rapid weight loss safely and sustainably, improving both your physical health and overall well-being.

These Researchers Want to Send Smells Over the Internet – Electrical stimulation of cells in the nasal passages produces sweet fragrances and chemical odors

By Eliza Strickland, 17 Oct 2018

https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/these-researchers-want-to-send-smells-over-the-internet

 

These Researchers Want to Send Smells Over the Internet – Electrical stimulation of cells in the nasal passages produces sweet fragrances and chemical odors

A volunteer tries out a "digital smell" apparatus
Electrical stimulation of neurons high up in the nasal passages can cause people to perceive aromas that aren’t really there. Photo: Imagineering Institute

 

Imagine a virtual reality movie about the Civil War where you can smell the smoke from the soldiers’ rifles. Or an online dating site where the profiles are scented with perfume or cologne. Or an augmented reality app that lets you point your phone at a restaurant menu and sample the aroma of each dish.

The researchers who are working on “digital smell” are still a very long way from such applications—in part because their technology’s form factor leaves something to be desired. Right now, catching a whiff of the future means sticking a cable up your nose, so electrodes can make contact with neurons deep in the nasal passages. But they’ve got some ideas for improvements.

This digital smell research is led by Kasun Karunanayaka, a senior research fellow at the Imagineering Institute in Malaysia. He started the project as a Ph.D. student with Adrian Cheok, now director of the institute and a professor at the City University of London, who’s on a quest to create a “multisensory Internet.” In one of Cheok’s earliest projects he sent hugs to chickens, and his students have also worked with digital kisses and electric taste.

 

Karunanayaka says most prior experiments with digital smell have involved chemical cartridges in devices that attach to computers or phones; sending a command to the device triggers the release of substances, which mix together to produce an odor.

Working in that chemical realm, Karunanayaka’s team is collaborating with a Japanese startup called Scentee that he says is developing “the world’s first smartphone gadget that can produce smell sensations.” They’re working together on a Scentee app that integrates with other apps to add smells to various smartphone functions. For example, the app could link to your morning alarm to get the day started with the smell of coffee, or could add fragrances to texts so that messages from different friends come with distinct aromas.

But Karunanayaka’s team wanted to find an alternative to chemical devices with cartridges that require refilling. They wanted to send smells with electricity alone.

For his experiments, he convinced 31 volunteers to let him stick a thin and flexible cable up their noses. The cable was tipped with both a tiny camera and silver electrodes at its tip. The camera helped researchers navigate the nasal passages, enabling them to bring the electrodes into contact with olfactory epithelium cells that lie about 7 centimeters above and behind the nostrils. These cells send information up the olfactory nerve to the brain.

Typically, these olfactory cells are stimulated by chemical compounds that bind to cell receptors. Instead, Karunanayaka’s team zapped them with an electric current.

 

The digital smell apparatus includes a controller and a cable with a camera and electrodes on the tip

The researchers had previously combed the scientific literature [PDF] for examples of electrical stimulation of nasal cells, and found some reports that the stimulation caused test subjects to perceive odors. So they decided to experiment with different parameters of stimulation, altering both the amount and frequency of the current, until they found the settings that most reliably produced smell sensations.

The subjects most often perceived odors they described as fragrant or chemical. Some people also reported smells that they described as fruity, sweet, toasted minty, or woody.

This experiment was a very basic proof-of-concept, Karunanayaka says. The next step is to determine whether certain stimulation parameters are reliably linked to certain smells. He must also investigate how much variability there is between subjects. “There may be differences due to age, gender, and human anatomy,” he says.

The biggest question, however, is whether he can find a way to produce these ghostly aromas without sticking a tube up people’s noses. The experiments were very uncomfortable for most of the volunteers, Karunanayaka admits: “A lot of people wanted to participate, but after one trial they left, because they couldn’t bear it.”

The digital smell experiment setup

Two possible solutions suggest themselves, Karunanayaka says: They could make the insert smaller, more flexible, and less unbearable. Or they could skip past the nose’s olfactory cells and directly stimulate the brain.

As a step toward that neurotech goal, the Imagineering Institute researchers are planning a brain-scanning collaboration with Thomas Hummel, a leading expert in smell disorders at the Technische Universität Dresden in Germany. In the planned experiment, volunteers will both smell real odiferous objects, such as a rose, and also receive nasal stimulation. All these sniffs will take place while the volunteers are getting their brains scanned by a noninvasive method such as fMRI.

“We’ll see which areas in the brain are activated in each condition, and then compare the two patterns of activity,” Karunanayaka says. “Are they activating the same areas of the brain?” If so, that brain region could become the target for future research. Maybe the researchers could use a headset that provides a noninvasive form of stimulation to trigger that brain region, thus producing smell sensations without the need for either a rose or a nose-cable.

Such tech could serve a restorative purpose: People with smell disorders could theoretically wear some headgear to regain some smell functions. And for people with intact sniffer systems, it could provide enhancements: For example, VR headset makers could build in the brain-stimulating tech to provide users with a more immersive and richer sensory experience.